Made the short run over to Robertson Center on the campus of Bethel University on this pleasant November night on Thanksgiving week to take in this early MIAC regular season clash between visiting Augsburg and host Bethel. The Auggies had notched their first victory of the season last Saturday when they nipped Hamline 64-62 over at venerable Hutton Arena. The Royals meanwhile were coming into this contest on the heels of a three-game losing streak which is almost unheard of these days but Bethel has been handicapped as late due to injuries to two key players - junior guard Kat Brown-Erdal and sophomore guard Anna Garfield. So maybe it wasn't dire straits time for Bethel just yet but the Royals certainly wanted to right the ship on this night with an important home game.
Things would be tight in the opening minutes of this contest as you would have expected them to be. After Royals senior forward Megan Boegel got this game knotted at four with her score in the paint at the 8:16 mark of the first period, Augsburg attempted its first push. Senior forward Jen Masello would first knock down one free throw at the 6:58 mark and then Masello; the Darien, IL native, showed how much her game has progressed with her steal and lay-up the other way at the 6:46 mark to make it a 7-4 game. Bethel would managed to get the game tied on a lay-up by freshman reserve forward Lydia Hagstrom at the 6:00 mark and one freebie by junior forward Emma Schultz at the 5:29 mark but the Auggies would soon step on the gas pedal again. Masello; enroute to a fabulous first period, snared an offensive rebound and putback of her own miss at the 5:00 mark and then sneaky sophomore guard Kalena Myers; who has deceptive speed, snared a steal and raced the other way for a lay-up with 4:39 mark that had Augsburg up 11-7. Masello would add a lay-up with 2:13 left to maintain the four-point edge at 13-9 and the Auggies would extend that lead to 15-9 when senior point guard Selena Lor came down in a transition opportunity and got a short, pull-up jumper to go down with 1:54 left. A bit later, Lor would strike again with a pretty drive and finish with 1:25 left to make it 17-9 and although the Royals would get a bit of a reprieve junior forward Emma Schultz drained a "3" from the right wing area with 1:09 left, Augsburg's Masello would cap this great first period for her with her lay-up with 1:02 left as the Auggies carried a 19-12 advantage going into the second period.
Augsburg's Masello would give her team a nine-point advantage at 21-12 early on in the second period with her lay-up at the 9:47 mark but Royals Head Coach Jon Herbrechtsmeyer would make some defensive adjustments during the break after the first period to make sure Masello wouldn't have carte blanche down low like she enjoyed early on. This adjustment, coupled with a resurgent offensive effort by Bethel which arguably struggled during the first period, allowed the Royals to get right back into this game. Freshman guard and former Becker standout Courtney Nuest would get this push going with her jumper from the left corner area; just inside the three-point line at the 9:35 mark and fifth-year senior forward Makenna Pearson connected with a lay-up off of an inbounds pass at the 9:07 mark that trimmed the deficit down to five points at 21-16. Boegel's lay-up at the 8:09 mark and Schultz' score in the paint at the 7:25 mark had the deficit cut down to a scant point at 21-20 and that caught the attention of Augsburg Head Coach Ted Riverso who called a timeout to get his squad settled down a bit. Still, Bethel's Pearson would cap this 10-0 run with her lay-up in transition at the 7:03 mark to put the Royals out in front 22-21 before the Auggies finally caught their collective breaths and got back on track on the offensive end. Sophomore reserve guard Katie Manecke made a hard drive for a finish at the 5:52 mark to put Augsburg back out in front and a lay-up by Myers with 2:39 left would make it 25-22. Masello would add a lay-up of her own with 1:56 left and then Lor; the former Winona standout, got two big scores down the stretch - a "3" from the right corner with 1:17 left and a jumper from the left top area with :01 left - to complete this 11-2 run as the Auggies took a 32-24 lead into the locker room at the half. A glance of the first half box score shows what a first half Augsburg's Masello had with her 15 points despite the adjustments that Bethel tried to make after the first period. And although the Auggies could certainly have done better from the charity stripe (going 1-4 for 25%), they did shoot 15-29 from FG range for a solid 51.7% compared to Bethel's 11-34 for 32.4%.
Augsburg got its first double-digit lead of the evening when Myers made a hard drive and got a finish off the glass at the 9:50 mark of the third period to make it a 34-24 ballgame but the Royals craftily worked themselves back into this ballgame. Two quick lay-ups in transition by Nuest - one at the 9:10 mark and again at the 8:56 mark - had Bethel back in striking distance down 34-28 and an offensive rebound and putback by freshman reserve guard Autumn Earney at the 5:27 mark drew them closer down four at 34-30. Pearson would connect with a jumper from the right elbow area with 4:48 left to keep the Royals in that four-point range down 36-32 and an Earney jumper from near the free throw line with 4:34 left not only had Bethel back to within a single possession down 36-34 but also had the Auggies' Riverso clamoring for a thirty-second timeout to quickly discuss things with his squad. Still, the Royals would manage to get this one tied at 36-all with 4:04 left when Hagstrom slithered her slender frame into the paint for a score and when Earney buried a "3" from the right corner with 3:26 left, things looked a lot brighter for Bethel than they did at the beginning of this third period with a 39-36 lead. But this 15-2 run for the Royals did not faze the Auggies at all as they regrouped and went on an 8-1 push. Back-to-back three-point bombs - one by Manecke from the right corner with 2:56 left and another one by Lor from the left wing area with 2:07 left - pushed Augsburg back into the lead at 42-39. Junior forward Jaley Coplin would also knock down two free throws after getting fouled with 1:10 left to make a 44-40 game to cap this push. And although the Royals would tighten things up on two scores in the final minute - a jumper from the right elbow by freshman reserve forward Hayden Glander with :47 left and a pretty drive and finish by Nuest with just :00.1 left - to be down only 46-44, the fact that Bethel was unable to consolidate once it grabbed the lead had to be a bit disconcerting for Herbrechtsmeyer and his staff.
The Royals still appeared to be in position to possibly grab control of things when Glander unleashed a "3" from the right wing area at the 8:26 mark that had the home team down by only one at 48-47 but it was here that Augsburg went back to work on the offensive end; churning out a 7-0 spurt that gave them some more breathing room. Lor would first uncork a "3" from the right corner at the 8:02 mark and would follow that up a bit later with a short, turnaround jumper to give the Auggies a 53-47 lead. Then Myers would connect on a lay-up in transition at the 7:18 mark that extended the lead to eight at 55-47 and Bethel's Herbrechtsmeyer was compelled to call a timeout to stop the bleeding shortly thereafter. Whatever was said in that huddle during the timeout was unknown but it sure got the attention of the Royals' Hagstrom as she would personally help lead her team right back into the thick of things. The former Zimmerman standout would first connect with a lay-up at the 6:55 mark and follow that up a bit later with a short jumper in the lane at the 6:23 mark. At the 5:47 mark, Hagstrom would knock down a jumper from the right elbow area that had Bethel back to within a single possession down 55-53. But the Royals would get turned back in the crucial moments as Augsburg took control of things down the home stretch. Coplin; the former Shakopee standout, would get two back-to-back scores for the Auggies - a lay-up in transition with 3:47 left and a "3" from the left wing area with 2:39 left to make it a two-possession game at 62-57 and although Bethel's Hagstrom would try and work her magic again after a subsequent timeout with her lay-up with :47 left to close within a single-possession down 62-59, Augsburg's Lor would knock down two crucial free throws after getting fouled with :25.4 left and Masello would add one more with :13.8 left after a foiled Royals possession to make it 65-59. Bethel's Glander would get an offensive rebound for a putback with :01.2 left but it wouldn't be enough as the Auggies got out of Robertson Center with a 65-61 victory.
Despite the latest setback, Bethel's Herbrechtsmeyer wasn't in the "down" mood that maybe I had thought he might be in. He was quick to point out the injuries that I alluded to early on in this post to both Brown-Erdal and Garfield but did express optimism that both would (hopefully) be back by this next Wednesday (12-1) when the Royals travel down Snelling Avenue to face Hamline. The Royals certainly did a better job at containing Augsburg's Masello in the second half and you're still seeing that aggressive, tenacious defense that can allow them to feast on turnovers. But it's arguably been a struggle on the offensive end thus far for Bethel and sporting a 1-4 record at Thanksgiving time was not what I or certainly they thought would be happening when this season got underway. They've got to find some solutions/fixes to the current problems they have on the offensive end and I think they've got to find them quickly before things start spiraling out of control. Still, Herbrechtsmeyer maintains that "We'll be alright" and he knows what his squad is capable of. Certainly getting both Brown-Erdal and Garfield back will be a big boost for them. Meanwhile on the Augsburg side, I don't think you necessarily have to view this win as a glass half-full proposition. After dropping their first three games; including a tough one to Chicago in the Windy City, the Auggies certainly have to feel better about themselves than they might have after the first week or so of play. You have to understand that this simply is not the "Fab 5" team of a couple two or three years ago. You don't have the same kind of talent that that team had. But I also think Riverso knows that his current squad has to carve its own identity and I think that they're slowly in the process of doing just that. Lor has grown into a leader on this squad as has Masello and you've got some very good complimentary pieces on this team like Myers, Coplin and junior guard Grace Eastman among others. We'll just have to see how far this process can take them. I mentioned to Riverso afterward that, given Bethel's recent struggles and the uncertainties with GAC and all of their injuries, the conference is perhaps even more wide open than what I may have even thought. He seemed to be in agreement with that and added that he felt that they really could have won the game at Chicago. So it may very well be a matter of just trying to get better and perhaps just as important, finding some consistency along the way as well.
It was indeed a solid outing for Augsburg's Lor as she led all scorers with her 21 points and although Bethel clamped down on Masello after that first half and her 15 first half points, she still finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds for a "double-double". Myers again may be the "X" factor on this team and her 14 points were critical for the Auggies. Hagstrom was the savior for Bethel this night with her 14 points and 14 rebounds for a "double-double and don't be surprised if you see more outings like this for her. To me, what's surprising is that the Royals had a decided advantage on the boards on this night by a 40-29 count but they weren't able to translate that advantage into more points. Bethel also had a 12-7 advantage in those all-important "second chance" points as well. At the same time, Bethel was also guilty of 22 turnovers on this night; something you rarely see from Herbrechtsmeyer-coached squad. Finally, Bethel finished this contest going 28-73 for 38.4% from FG range compared to Augsburg's 27-60 for 45%.
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